NYU Deferred You: Now What?

Complete NYU's Deferral Response Form immediately, you'll find a custom link in your deferral email. On this form, you can indicate any additional campuses or programs of interest and provide updates on accomplishments or awards since you applied. Additionally, have your guidance counselor submit your mid-year report and, if helpful, call or email the admissions office to advocate on your behalf. They should affirm that no matter what other admission decisions you receive, you will choose to attend NYU if offered a spot.

But don't stop at the form. Write a letter of continued interest—one of the most inspired pieces of writing you've ever composed. In it, you need to let your heart write a love song for NYU and translate that into giving the reader a concrete picture of exactly who you will be as a person on their campus. This includes demonstrating how you will contribute to spaces and organizations on campus and reminding the reader of your academic hook. In reintroducing your hook—the academic niche you spent time and effort carving out in high school to distinguish yourself from others, you want to remind the reader how you can change the world for the better if you have the opportunity to leverage specific academic opportunities at NYU.

I personally recommend starting the letter of continued interest with something funny or lighthearted. It is naturally awkward reading something from someone whom you, in a sense, put on hold. To make the experience as cringe-free as possible for the admissions officer, I wouldn't reference the deferral explicitly or convey any feelings of disappointment.

After a lighthearted and positive introduction, I would then proceed to talk to the reader about something related to your niche, such as a new cutting-edge development or something new that you learned. I would then connect this new piece of information regarding your niche to something currently going on at NYU and explain how, by leveraging certain opportunities there, you can achieve some goal, and make the reader understand how achieving this goal can change the world. Think about what drew you to NYU in the first place, was it the urban energy of Greenwich Village? Access to internships across every industry imaginable? The global network spanning NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai? Weave these specifics into your narrative.

Afterward, I would paint them a picture of you on their campus. Have fun here. Feel free to write a hypothetical scenario of you making some of the best memories of your life there, grabbing coffee in Washington Square Park, studying late in Bobst Library, exploring the city that becomes an extension of the classroom. You want the reader to feel like by not admitting you, they will be denying you the opportunity to live your best life for four years. Show them you doing activities that have garnered you friends in high school on their campus. Show them how your hobbies or talents will brighten up the days of your NYU classmates. Present yourself as someone they want on their campus.

To conclude the letter, I would thank the reader for their time and add something to the effect of thanking them for the opportunity to share with them your favorite subjects and hobbies. Finally, I would tell them that no matter what other decisions you receive, you are absolutely resolute in attending NYU, and that if you are offered a seat, you will immediately accept it. I would then include a signed signature.

Important note about NYU's deferral process: NYU explicitly states that deferred students should send mid-year reports but should not send additional letters of recommendation or artistic materials. Respect these boundaries. Your letter of continued interest is your primary vehicle for making your case.

Here's some encouraging context: NYU defers less than 5% of Early Decision applicants. If you weren't going to be a viable candidate, you would have been rejected outright. A deferral means NYU sees real potential in you, they simply want to see how you compare against the full applicant pool. Additionally, once deferred, you are released from the binding Early Decision agreement, giving you flexibility while still allowing you to demonstrate your commitment.

When it comes to bragging about grades, prizes, or publications in your letter, please save it. If you made it this far in the admissions process at a school as competitive as NYU, which received over 120,000 applications last year, then you already have enough academic credentials to be a strong candidate. If you did not, then you wouldn't be deferred and reevaluated in the regular decision round, you would have been rejected.

Your guidance counselor should be the one bragging on your behalf. When they do it, it carries much more weight and shows the admissions office that there is something beyond those accomplishments to consider. By your guidance counselor going out of their way to share your accomplishments with the admissions officer, it demonstrates to them that there is something compelling enough about your personhood for them to be doing this. Given how accomplished you must be to be even deferred from NYU in 2025, this intangible quality they can infer is what will distinguish you from other overachievers.

If you'd like help writing your letter of continued interest for NYU or any other school, please schedule a free consultation with us below.